Close to Completion

Well after a swap for some equally needed cards for our 2009-10 Upper Deck Series I Hockey sets, I am only 2 cards shy. Thanks to Captain Canuck for the trade. I appreciate it. Now, only Mike Modano #139 and Josh Georges #19 elude me. If there are any readers out there that would be willing to help me complete my first set of 2010, let me know.

As an added bonus, the good Captain threw in some old wax for good measure...I was a little worried at first that it might have been a drive by bipping. Thank Jeebus it was only a pack of 1991-92 Score Hockey. Here are a few of the 15 cards that were in there.



Highlights: A John LeClair Rookie (which you could see through the wrapper), Two Belfour's in the same pack, and a Rick Tocchet Crunch Crew that reminds me of the old Batman TV show.

I have been tooling around with my page lately and changed the header. I kind of like it now since it was a bit on the plain side before. Don't be surprised if things look different the next time you check anything on here. I haven't found something I am totally satisfied with yet.

(Thanks goes out to my latest victim...err, follower Anthony Kates. I am not sure if Mr. Kates has a blog out there for cards or otherwise, but he is a follower of many of the same sites as I am. Welcome to you there sir.)

Box Break - - 2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hobby Box

For my first trick, I am going to pull a rabbit out of my hat. For my second trick, I'm actually going to bust some hobby boxes for once.

I picked up a couple boxes at a local show a few weeks ago for a pretty decent price. I finally had the time to break them so I wanted to share.

The first box is a hobby box of 09-10 OPC hockey. OPC is one of those sets that I try to chase down every year and inevitably spend triple of what it is worth in getting all the cards. This years set will probably be no different. I already had picked up a blaster when they were first issued and with this box together, I am well on my way to the 600 card beast of a set. Here is the breakdown...

2009-10 O-Pee-Chee Hobby Box

36 Packs per box
6 Cards per pack
129 Base Cards / 500 Base Set
No doubles
Guarantees: Retro variation cards, 1 per pack; Canadian Heroes card; 18 Rookies or Legends; 9 Regular Set Gold parallels; 1-2 Retro Set parallels; 9 OPC Inserts (2 signature cards, 3 quad-materials cards per case)

Rookies: (9)

Scott Lehman, Jamie Sifers, Grant Lewis, Derek Peltier, Sean Collis, Riku Helenius, John Scott, Jesse Joensuu, and Brandon Segal

Legends: (9)

Denis Potvin, Bernie Federko, Darryl Sutter, Clark Gillies, Red Kelly, Gilbert Perreault, Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming, Patrick Roy

SP Parallels: (12)

Gold Marquee Rookies: Kris Chucko; Canadian Heroes Foil: Mike Bossy; Gold Legends: Bobby Clarke; Retro Rainbow: Adrian Aucoin, Jere Lehtinen, Marek Zidlicky; Gold Regular: Adrian Aucoin, Daniel Sedin, Manny Legace, Maxim Lapierre, Niklas Kronwall, Matt Bradley, Keith Ballard.

Regular Retro Parallels: (36)

I'm not listing them all. That would take too long.

Inserts: (18)

Record Breaker: Zdeno Chara; In Action: Mikko Koivu, Trophy Winner: Evgeni Malkin; Stat Leader: Alexander Ovechkin; All Star: Evgeni Malkin; All Rookie Team: Patrik Berglund; Team Checklists: Nashville, Toronto, Carolina; Canadian Heroes: Haley Irwin, Martin St. Louis, Chris Phillips, Shannon Szabados, Colleen Sostorics, Becky Kellar, Kim St. Pierre, Drew Doughty, Derek Roy

Auto: (1)

Peter Budaj (yes it's a sticker auto)



If you haven't seen the regular issue cards yet, here is a sample...
I like the design (although some people might find it too busy). It features nice full color action shots of the players surrounded by a double line border like some of the early 80s issues. Upper Deck could have toned down the branding logo at the top to make way for the players name but it does make for a clean design.

So if you are keeping score on my box, I think I beat the odds for a box considering I got a case hit with the Budaj auto. It was nice to pull one out of a pack for a change instead of the redemption scratch off like last year. As for the other cards, I pulled exactly the box breakdown from UD's sell sheet. I was especially happy with the 2 Malkin inserts, at least from a PC standpoint. I also think the selection of rookies was pretty decent.

Overall, I would give this set an 8/10 and my particular box a 9/10 because of the PC insert pulls and of course the case hit on the auto.

Box Break - - 2009-10 MVP Hockey Blaster

I told myself before the start of the season this year that I wasn't going to buy anymore blasters. I think I spent $12.3 million on them last year and ended up with piles and piles of stuff; I don't even know what is in there. After reading some reviews on the product, I decided that a blaster was best to "test the waters" on this one.

As most hockey collector's know, MVP is always been a couple steps from the bottom when it comes to price but loaded when it comes to the proverbial hit. I make an attempt to get the Upper Deck main set each year, as well as SP and O-Pee-Chee. MVP is always my third or fourth choice because I like the design and, like I already said, there are a ton of rookies and the insert sets are well designed.

This year is no different so I picked one up the other day.

2009-10 MVP Hockey Retail Blaster

12 Packs per Blaster
8 Cards per Pack
84 base cards / 394 total base set
No Doubles
Guarantees: MVP Rookies 1:2 packs on average

Rookies: (6)

304 Matt Beleskey, 305 T.J. Galiardi, 335 John Scott, 365 Jamie Fraser, 361 Michael Vernance, and 371 Matt Duchene

Inserts: (6)

Hart Winner (1:40): Bobby Orr; Hart Candidates (1:5): Evgeni Malkin, Rick DiPietro; MVP Winter Classic: Scott Hartnell, Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic

Autos: (0)

GU: (0)

Overall, this is a nice set for a builder because of its mid-range size and the slew of rookies. Although I didn't get one of the 2-On-2 jersey cards, it was hardly to be expected out of a blaster (even though I pulled one last year). I found it interesting that of the 6 rookies I pulled, 3 of them were Avs and 2 of them were Wild players. Not sure if that has anything to do with quality control but I won't argue with a Duchene. That guy will be a superstar

I think this is a solid hockey set to collect/buy. At about 20 bucks for a retail blaster or around $35-45 for a hobby box, you can't really go wrong here. I would give it a 7/10 for the cards and a 7/10 for my box.

(A special welcome to Hackenbush from over at the Can't Have Too Many Cards blog. He is my newest follower of the Real DFG blog and comes from the Chicagoland area like me. Unfortunately, he is a Cubs fan. We can't all be perfect though.)

Box Break - 2009-10 Upper Deck Victory (Blaster)

I couldn't resist this one. I had to get my hands on some fresh 09/10 Hockey. The first release out this year is Upper Deck Victory. Walmart's shelves were jammed with them.

11 Packs/Blaster
6 Cards/Pack
Box Guarantees: 1 Oversize Card, 1:2 Victory Rookies or Star Inserts (basically 1 per pack)
200 card base set (250 Total)

I pulled 54 base (no doubles) which is 22% of the set

Rookies (6):

Mike Santorelli #205
Byron Bitz #212
Luca Caputi #225
Jesse Joensuu #232
Andrew McDonald #240
Mike McKenna #243

Parallels (1): Brandon Sutter Gold #38 (avg. 1:36 packs)

Inserts (5): Game Breakers - Brad Boyes, Evgeni Malkin, Eric Staal; Stars Of The Game - Marian Hossa, Marty Turco

Oversize Card (1):


Luke Schenn

Summary:

The first cards of the year are always exciting, even if they are from the UD Victory product. Victory has, over the past few years, had a standard "run of the mill" type design that has not varied much from year to year. The same goes for 09/10. This year features a lot more white space, if that was even possible. The borders are even more expansive than last year, with the images centered on the card and a more rounded feel to the edge. The insert sets feature the standard Victory Game Breakers and Stars of the Game, which showcase the top players on each team. The Victory Rookies feature many of the guys that played at the end of 08/09 and the design of the card is an improvement over last year, in my opinion.

I would give the set itself a 6/10. The box...maybe a 5 1/2/10, possibly a 6 because I like these cards but definitely better than a 5.